This was very big when it came out. Jimmy Webb was THE hot songwriter of that time. He wrote beautiful stuff. And Richard Harris singing was a big surprise.
In the sixties and seventies, we were blessed with several groups of legendary session musicians -- The Funk Brothers, The Wrecking Crew, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (AKA The Swampers), Booker T and the MG's, the Memphis Rhythm Section.
Rather than Simon and Garfunkel, I feel it has a feeling of Leonard Cohen, think "Suzanne". I remember this well from when it was first released. It is quite iconic. If you are into movies, Camelot staring Richard Harris is very entertaining.
A huge part of my youth. That whole album is fucking insane. If you wanna know more about hellraiser Harris, watch the move, “A Man Called Horse” and wonder why we old fuckers pity the youth of today ( present company excepted of course). Jimmy Webb was truly one of the great American songwriters. Look him up and gape in awe. 😇
I was 3 when this was released, but I remember it because my dad had the record and played it at supper time when we were all at the table. Richard Harris sold a ton of these. This brings back good, very early memories.
I knew Richard Harris did this song, and was an actor forever up until the second Harry Potter movie, I think it was, but I didn't know he had a whole album. Now, if I find out the second Dumbledore had an album, I will really be surprised. lol! I think Donna Summer did this song, too.
@@lauraallen55 It was covered many times by different artists, including Tony Bennett, Sinatra, Waylon Jennings, Andy Williams, and the Four Tops. At least 194 covers, according to the Wikipedia page!
The lyrics were about a metaphorical lost love, a man jilted at the alter, a lost reception in a park, that gets rained out, and he is lamenting his lost love. The recipe is the relationship, which took so long to 'bake', and he remembers images of her, the flowing dress, the park where they were, the birds, the men playing checkers, it is as you said very descriptive. The middle section is more about his acceptance that there 'will be another song' but he will remember her, even though he can't see why... I never had a problem, even as kid, understanding the lyrics. Spring was never waiting for us, girl It ran one step ahead As we followed in the dance Between the parted pages and were pressed In love's hot, fevered iron Like a striped pair of pants [Chorus] MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark All the sweet green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don't think that I can take it 'Cause it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again, oh no [Verse 2] I recall the yellow cotton dress Foaming like a wave On the ground around your knees The birds like tender babies in your hands And the old men playing checkers By the trees [Chorus] MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark All the sweet green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don't think that I can take it 'Cause it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again, oh no [Bridge 1] There will be another song for me For I will sing it There will be another dream for me Someone will bring it I will drink the wine while it is warm And never let you catch me Looking at the sun And after all the loves of my life After all the loves of my life You'll still be the one [Bridge 2] I will take my life into my hands And I will use it I will win the worship in their eyes And I will lose it I will have the things that I desire And my passion flow Like rivers through the sky And after all the loves of my life Oh, after all the loves in my life I'll be thinking of you And wondering why [Chorus] MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark All the sweet green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don't think that I can take it 'Cause it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again (Oh no, oh no)
"I never had a problem, even as kid, understanding the lyrics." Yes, i was 12 at the time. This is a statement I would love to shove up most music critics' you know what, thank you.
It’s not metaphorical, it’s a true story about a girl Jimmy Webb dated, and they had split. MacArthur Park is in Los Angeles, and she and Jimmy would meet there for lunch, as she worked for Aetna insurance across the street. Jimmy in an interview broke it down line by line, as things he remembered from those lunches together. The song was written when Bones Howe asked Jimmy to write a song with differing time signatures , as well as different movements. Howe was looking for a song for the Association, and they all, including Howe rejected it. Richard Harris met Jimmy at an LA fundraiser where he was accompanying the musical act on piano. Harris had just finished Camelot, where he did sing some songs. On a lark he called Jimmy to fly to London to record his songs. According to the interview that was the whole story, other than they became very close friends, and drinking partners, that was Harris’s forte. 😉👍
I was on a bus riding from Santa Monica to downtown LA one time and the driver called out "next stop MacArthur Park!" so I just had to jump off and see if the cake was melting. I'd bought A Tramp Shining at the time, which is full of great arrangements by Jimmy Webb and loved MacArthur Park. I also bought the follow up album The Yard Went On Forever which is an even better album musically but without an obvious hit single so it disappeared. At that time Jimmy Webb was the pop equivalent of Gil Evans who did amazing and oblique jazz arrangements for Miles Davis on Porgy and Bess and the inimitable Sketches of Spain. So glad you picked and appreciated this one! And thanks to Heidi for forcing you to listen ;)
I just thought of this song the other day. I looked it up and played it. Very glad to hear it again. So surprised to see you reacting to it only a couple of days later. One of my favorites from long ago. Thank you and great reaction. 😊
WOW Lee!! HOW did you get a "Butcher" cover of the The BEATLES "YESTERDAY and TODAY" album??!! Do you know if it was a "peel off" cover or one of the original covers that were sold before they recalled them and slapped the alternate cover on it? COOL, I haven't been able to afford to try and buy one. GOOD FIND!!! NOW that I am much older (77) these lyrics have so much more meaning and relevance to me, it brought tears to my eyes.....I haven't heard it in a long time.
Somehow this became a smash hit on A.M. top 40 radio. Clocking in at something like 7:23 long, it apparently held the record for longest top ten hit till The Beatles released "Hey Jude" a few months later. Rumor was they purposely let "Hey Jude" run on at the end to set a new record by about five seconds. Kind of doubt it was on purpose, but there you go.
First time I heard this song I was lysergically enhanced , to coin a phrase "What a trip!!!!" peace and love man, I trip on you discovering the vibe of yesteryear
This got played every hour on AM radio. I remember camping with friends and this was on and at 2am, it was interrupted to announce Bobby Kennedy died from gunshot after 2 days in hospital.
An extraordinary song, arrangement and production by Jimmy Webb and he was still only 21 at the time. This and all his other 60s classics like Wichita Lineman, Up Up And Away and By The Time I Get To Phoenix have stood the test of time.
Art Garfunkel "99 Miles From LA", a song riddled with worry and longing. Back before cellphones, some of us had to drive literally halfway across country and didn't know if the person we were going to see would actually be there to meet us. Art didn't write his own songs, apparently, but he did some great covers.
I was 7 when this came out. Richard Harris played King Arthur in Camelot the year before, and my mom had this album and the Camelot soundtrack album and I played them all the time. I was a weird kid. I was very interested in your reaction to this-it was what I expected. You should listen to Donna Summer’s version sometime.
Jimmy Webb said that his first serious girlfriend worked in a building across from MacArthur Park. The images in the song were things he saw in the park while having lunch with his girl friend.
Great reaction Lee! After Glen Campbell, Linda Ronstadt was a great interpreter of Jimmy Webb songs and sang a whole series of slightly more obscure ones. You can always recognise his stamp on them, a sort of poetic presentation of fractured masculinity.
A lot of people have given this song grief over the decades, mainly over the cake lyrics, but I've always liked it. I even enjoy the Disco version by Donna Summer. 😎👍
it sounded like it was simon & garfunkel kinda lyrics but with a jimmy webb spin. i liked it a lot actually. not the greatest thing i've ever heard but it's worth the listen.
There are those who call this the worst song ever recorded, which is so untrue, IMO. I really like this song. Others say the worst song ever is "We Built This City," by Jefferson Starship, but that's also untrue. There is only one choice for worst song ever, if you don't count the Outsider song "My Pal Foot Foot," by The Shaggs, which is horrible, yet oddly compelling (Kurt Cobain called it his favorite song), and that is "The Disco Duck," by Rick Dees, the song that literally put a wooden stake through the heart of Disco. MacArthur Park is a masterpiece, compared to that godawful The Disco Duck. Wow!
The Neal Morse Band has a fun cover of MacArthur Park released in 2015. It's a direct cover of the Richard Harris version, not Donna Summer's disco version.
The baking of the cake and it being ruined in the rain I feel is a metaphor for a lost love .Richard Harris did not have the most classically trained voice but the pure emotion and feeling that he brings to the song has not been matched by other artists that have covered it in my opinion.
People love to hate this song, but I just love this song, and nobody can top this version. I refuse to call it a guilty pleasure. Yes, it is over top, but it should be, and it's wonderful because of it being over the top. There, I said it, and will not be ashamed for it. Excellent reaction!
The flip side is beautiful..."Didn't We. You should listen to Jimmy's song "Galveston" sung by Glen Campell (pop version) and then listen to Jimmy singing the original version (cut and paste) Galveston: A tribute to those who served in Vietnam Jimmy's version is so moving especially for the 4th.
I understand the imagery is literal. He went to MacArthur Park after a rain, and observed a cake with green icing melting in real life. Makes it feel different, I think, but just as "majestic".
Great you react to this song, PIty it is not the video of the live performance with an orchestra, this great classical actor managed on stage to add additional tension to the song. Donna Summer did a disco version, but that cannot beat the intensity of this version. And he does sing, more than fifty years before autotune. And you will be surprised by Telly Savalas (Kojak) covering If by Bread....
Lee, thank you for this premier! ❤️ I’m glad you enjoyed it! (I see now that I was beguiled by Richard’s image on this video and erred by not providing a video with a better quality sound…)
Lee, here is a much better video for sound of MacArthur Park by Richard Harris!: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L0MjADKCHns.htmlsi=1cBe1cfkjX0-NDJB
Who knew Dumbledore could get down like this. It's like S&G and Jimmy Webb had a music baby 😂 absolutely haunting at points but still gorgeous as can be. Those damn wrecking crewers. 😎
@@L33Reacts I had hoped it would hit you in a good way, Lee. There is majesty to MacArthur Park as sung by Richard Harris. He put his soul into the lyrics with great passion. And the Wrecking Crew is magnificent. It’s more genius by Jimmy Webb, putting together this work. This song won the 1969 Grammy for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s). Wichita Lineman was the Glen Campbell song you first heard. I haven’t seen any of the Harry Potter movies, so I’m not familiar with that period of Richard Harris’ work. I’ve seen him in other movies, though. He’s a fine actor. Paul Simon and Jimmy Webb do have a comparable genius expressing how life makes them feel! In haunting and gorgeous ways.
Donna Summer covered MacArthur Park in the late 1970's. Richard Harris hit #2 on the Billboard Singles Chart in the late 1960's. Donna's Disco version bested him and went to #1😮😊
Love that you do such a wide variety of stuff! Maybe you should check out some of the fusion stuff from the 70's. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, etc. John Mcglaughlin and Al DiMeola are both amazing! Friday Night in San Francisco! And Pat Metheny too.
On the surface, this song sounds absurd. It's nothing of the sorts. It's a song about a broken relationship told through metaphors. Although, after watching your wonderful reaction know you knew. And didn't feel the need to explain the cake-related lyrics. Thanks. Lee, you are my favorite person to watch. I always learn something every time I watch your posts.
Paul McCartney-The Lyrics 2 volume book...Beatles Anthology dvd box set...Mark Lewisohn-Tune In: All Those Years 2 book extended edition box...Beatles Yesterday And Today rare 'n wondrous butcher cover lp. Obviously yer viewers LOVE you. L33 is a lucky guy!!!
I've been through the desert on a horse with no name 'Cause I left my cake out in the rain In the desert, you can't remember your name 'Cause you'll never have that recipe again
I grew up in Little Rock and we had a MacArthur Park (named after Gen. Douglass MacArthur). but when I was 14, I wondered what the hell did this song have to do with Gen MacArthur or our downtown park. Anyway, never got into this song. To me it's claim to fame was it stood as an example to EMI that it was acceptable for The Beatles to do a 7-minute record called Hey Jude.
You had to live then to really get this. It is a slice out of the hippie generation. Try "San Francisco( wear some flowers in your hair) for similar flavor.
I hated it-still do. But I think when this came out I was a sax player in High School band and the horns just never sounded right to my ear-plus they played it basically nonstop.
Jimmy Webb wrote a rather depressing Christmas song called "Whatever Happened to Christmas'. It doesn't get covered or played a lot because who wants to listen to a downer Christmas song. However, it was covered in 1968 by none other than Frank Sinatra and, as one would expect, it is a wonderful rendition of a beautiful underappreciated song.
I just listened to it. I had never heard of Whatever Happened To Christmas before, and looked up Frank Sinatra’s version. It’s a very nice song! Frank Sinatra sings it beautifully. It really was like staring into the lights of my Christmas tree remembering, with heartbreaking nostalgia, my childhood Christmases. Frank Sinatra is great. Jimmy Webb is a magician… Thank you for letting us know about this Jimmy Webb song!
There's a "different" version performed by (Dr) John Cooper Clarke and Hugh Cornwell (ex-Stranglers) featuring Ian Anderson on flute, from about 7 years ago. Why? Why not.
The radio version cut out the slow interlude in the middle of the song, and I believe that Donna Summer's disco cover also did. When Sinatra covered the song, he sang ONLY the interlude. None of that cake in the rain crap for the Chairman of the Board. Weird Al's parody was "Jurassic Park", and it was brilliantly done. Jimmy's song "Highwayman" was a country hit for Waylon, Willie, Kris, and Johnny in the '80s, but Jimmy did a version himself in 1977 that does more to clarify the song.
